Software application programs that utilize increased graphics have become more prevalent. For example, video games and business software often utilize an increasing amount of two dimensional (2-D) and three dimensional (3-D) graphics. In order to support the increased graphics component of these programs, the user's video display driver software has become increasingly more complex.
However, as the graphics component of software applications increases, the user's display driver software is often unable to support the increased graphics and becomes obsolete. In order to run the more complex graphic applications, the display driver software must be replaced or updated.
Software vendors often release updated versions of existing software in order to support new features or fix bugs in the software. For example, a manufacturer of display driver software may release a new version of their display driver that supports more complex 2-D and 3-D graphics applications. However, users are often unaware of new versions of software that may be available. Hence, existing users may have to rely on the particular software vendor contacting the users directly to notify them of the updated software.
Alternatively, many vendors release information regarding new software revisions, and often the actual revisions, via an on-line mechanism such as a Website on the Internet. A drawback with such on-line releases is that many users are unaware of the information available from a vendor's Website. Another drawback with releasing software updates from Websites is that they assume a fairly sophisticated user. First, the user must be able to find the vendor's Website and then be able to identify the particular version of the program that is currently running on the personal computer (PC). Next, the user must be able to determine whether the software on the PC is "down rev", i.e. an older version of the program than currently available. Finally, the user must be able to navigate through an often complex series of steps to download and install the software on the PC's hard drive. The problem with such an approach is that many users are unsophisticated and are unable to perform these steps. A further problem is that many users are unwilling to download any software onto the hard disk for fear that the new software will cause the system to crash.